Running Back and Wide Receiver Gold Mining – Week 16

Welcome to week 16. The graphs below summarize the projections from a variety of sources. This week’s summary includes projections from: CBS: CBS Average, Yahoo Sports, NFL, FOX Sports, NumberFire, FantasySharks, ESPN and FantasyFootballNerd. The data for this article were collected on 12/22/15. For more details on WR gold mining and how to interpret the graphs below, see Chad’s post explaining gold mining.

Standard Scoring League Running Back Roundup

From the graph below notice that:

Joique Bell, LeSean McCoy, DeMarco Murray, Brandon Bolden and Fozzy Whittaker are the five players with the largest upside (as measured by the 90th percentile of a player's projected points across analysts). For these players, some projections are placing much higher valuations than others. If you are projected to lose this week by quite a few points and are looking for a risky play that may tip the balance in your favor, these are players to consider.

Frank Gore, Chris Ivory, Eddie Lacy, Charles Sims and James Starks are the players with the smallest downside (as measured by the 10th percentile of a player's projected points across analysts), which suggests that while their median projection might not be great, there is less uncertainty concerning how poorly they may perform. So, if you are likely to win by a lot and want to reduce your downside risk, these players may deserve extra attention.

On the other hand, Jonathan Stewart, T.J. Yeldon, Donald Brown, Christine Michael and LeSean McCoy are the five players with the largest downside this week. If you are planning on starting them, it may be prudent to investigate why some projections have such low expectations for these players.

Point-per-Reception League Running Back Roundup

From the graph below notice that:

Joique Bell, DeMarco Murray, LeSean McCoy, Brandon Bolden and Fozzy Whittaker are the five players with the largest upside (as measured by the 90th percentile of a player's projected points across analysts). For these players, some projections are placing much higher valuations than others. If you are projected to lose this week by quite a few points and are looking for a risky play that may tip the balance in your favor, these are players to consider.

Frank Gore, Danny Woodhead, Chris Ivory, James Starks and Alfred Morris are the players with the smallest downside (as measured by the 10th percentile of a player's projected points across analysts), which suggests that while their median projection might not be great, there is less uncertainty concerning how poorly they may perform. So, if you are likely to win by a lot and want to reduce your downside risk, these players may deserve extra attention.

On the other hand, T.J. Yeldon, Jonathan Stewart, Shaun Draughn, Christine Michael and LeSean McCoy are the five players with the largest downside this week. If you are planning on starting them, it may be prudent to investigate why some projections have such low expectations for these players.

Standard Scoring League Wide Receiver Roundup

From the graph below notice that:

Randall Cobb, Amari Cooper, Dez Bryant, Rueben Randle and Rishard Matthews are the five players with the largest upside (as measured by the 90th percentile of a player's projected points across analysts). For these players, some projections are placing much higher valuations than others. If you are projected to lose this week by quite a few points and are looking for a risky play that may tip the balance in your favor, these are players to consider.

Allen Hurns, Donte Moncrief, James Jones, Rishard Matthews and Mike Wallace are the players with the smallest downside (as measured by the 10th percentile of a player's projected points across analysts), which suggests that while their median projection might not be great, there is less uncertainty concerning how poorly they may perform. So, if you are likely to win by a lot and want to reduce your downside risk, these players may deserve extra attention.

On the other hand, Sammy Watkins, Steve Johnson, Markus Wheaton, Davante Adams and Dwayne Harris are the five players with the largest downside this week. If you are planning on starting them, it may be prudent to investigate why some projections have such low expectations for these players.

Point-per-Reception League Wide Receiver Roundup

From the graph below notice that:

Amari Cooper, Dez Bryant, Steve Johnson, Rishard Matthews and Julian Edelman are the five players with the largest upside (as measured by the 90th percentile of a player's projected points across analysts). For these players, some projections are placing much higher valuations than others. If you are projected to lose this week by quite a few points and are looking for a risky play that may tip the balance in your favor, these are players to consider.

Allen Robinson, Brandin Cooks, Dez Bryant, Allen Hurns and Rishard Matthews are the players with the smallest downside (as measured by the 10th percentile of a player's projected points across analysts), which suggests that while their median projection might not be great, there is less uncertainty concerning how poorly they may perform. So, if you are likely to win by a lot and want to reduce your downside risk, these players may deserve extra attention.

On the other hand, Julio Jones, Markus Wheaton, Davante Adams, Dwayne Harris and Julian Edelman are the five players with the largest downside this week. If you are planning on starting them, it may be prudent to investigate why some projections have such low expectations for these players.

Sorry for the trouble. The Lineup Optimizer appears to work for each week for FanDuel/DraftKings except last week (we unfortunately missed Week 16 because of the holidays). Week 17 will be up soon once we upload the salaries.